The Labor enquirer., 1887-03-05
DENVER, COLORADO. SATURDAY. MARCH
and sneak upstairs and get to your trunl


day In Detroit Ny trunk had gone OF
and Ihad on the unif,rm Of the pinefy
The citizens looked at me as IL I was o6
the reservation and felt lonesome.
With dirt. and rags and cold victuals
come rudeness Of manner, coarseness ol
speech. Let hunger In and how lont
will civility and urbanity last7
| Consider the tramp; he is alone.
Consider what you do and refrain from
doing for the sake Of wife and children
father and mother. friend and and &C.
quaintance; for the sake Of society,
! Now for the time abolish these. let
these braces all be taken away. be alone.
out Of money, in strange city. perhaps
iyou will do strange things. Men In
tents. soldiers and miners are not pre-
cisely what they were at home. Nov,
when you give him dime and watch
him, and see him poin. for q saloon,
need you be shocked at his course?
This climate Of ours, fue as it Is, draws
on life heavily. Unless the furnace is
fed frost comes in. Before the Are with
plenty of porterhouse steak and accom-.
paniments and variations. one can keep
warm and behave we'll. But the tramp
walking about during the dav, fed irreg-
ularly on cold messes, and sleeping in
the tramE's bed, feels below par. Food
is free. alcohol is force. For fifteen
minutes 1t will lift him out Of the depths
out Of cold, out of hunger. and betide
this tramp is social being, and likes
company. Perhaps the only kind word
he gets during a day is from q bar
keeper. He usually is not an inh umsn
man. You have read De Qaincy's story
of his life. He was a sick vagabond
child in London streets, with no friend
except woman named Ann, and ''she
was sinner" an abandoned woman.
but she did not abandon him. But be.
fore she took him up he had learned to
soothe pains Of hunger by opinion. A
little opium filed the lack Of much
bread. So he formed habit that held
him till he lied. Let US get on the mer.
ciful side Of question. II YOU wish
men to be better you must make
them happier. There are homes in this
city that are not very attractive. No
color, no light. Dismal places Mr..
s'eary stated that "the people needed
to be amuthed." Why should we ex.
pect the tramp to be saint or heroY
Suppose that he should even steal a pail
of mince meat now AMI then Is that
such remarkable thing? People with
large salaries, healthy, prosperous men,
who gRe dinners and have ane wines
with their dinners, have been known to
steal-neyer anything 40 l;stle ~ q pail
of mince meat, but railroad, or some.
thing like that. A tramp is not q saw
ings bank or township trustee. Gail
Hamilton few years ago advised that
a tramp be arrested, Treat hunger as
crime. 1t interferes with my fine ladies'
comfort to see ragged people coming in
at the gate. She desired that tbs state
of Maine organize for the protection of
then of the best society. The ar.
rival of the tramp agltated her poodle
dog.
Certainly. If man will not work let
him suffer. But where is work to be
had2 You put a notice in the paper
that YOU will pay Sc week for any kind
of labor, aud see whether men are viii
ling to work. l remember that the
Chicago Tribune few years ago adver-
tised for capyist, wages $6 a week, and
it was answered promptly by more than
800 people. Consider the wages that
people WORK for, especially women,
maxim G ovealls at so cents a dozen.
That shows willingness to work. As q
rule people are willing to work. It is
curious; warehouses full Of clothes,
warehouses full of grain-sbundance,
but not to be earned. That is an In.
disn's idea ofhell. Water. water every.
where, but net a drop to drink" Of
course some men lack energy, vim, take
everything b. the blade and nothing by
the handle. But do not know that
ought to blame man for lack of q ma
tive gift Eu'rgy is a gift, an inheri-
tance. Not al have it. The tramp In
nocent and th' tramp guilty are facts.
What will We do? The comfortable
citizen ploddng home late at night
watches the alleys. Poverty, ignorance,
neglect eyolveinto crime naturally. A
man compelled to stand with his hands
in his pocketsall day is the nexts day
tenn ted to pui his hands in yours. Gail
Hamilton complained that the tramp is
no gentleman. 1t is possible that Ger
tain set of circumstances might make
her 10 lady. What's done we partly
may compute, hut never what's resisted" !"
1t is possible tlst the tramp made y
good fights he hero of lost cause.
am going to dve him the benefit of
the doubt. Hfe In this city whore is q
man outof maey to find . place to
sleep2 Seyent-one slept in the station
house the ether cold night. That is
, better than nothing. but it is not good
to send crimes nd misfortunes 10 ct the
same door. Thy will get confused and
: come out the SO ne thing. We need In